Mortising tool



W. E. GREENLEY MORTISING TOOL July 16, 1968 Filed May 23, 1966 INVENTOR. WdL TEA E. GPEEA/l E) BYW l 3,392,762 Patented July 16, 1968 ABSTRACT THE DISCLOSURE A mortisingtool powered by a portable hand. drill for Un t d S a e P t mortising door edges and jambs. Used with a templet v This invention relates to improvements in mortising tools of thetype designed for mortising doors and jambs and the like for the reception of hinges.-

One of the important objects contemplated herein is the provision of a rotaryvmortise cutting tool that can be powered from a standard portable electric drill and thus eliminates the necessity of expensive and specialized router equipment. v

The proper hanging of a door demands a high degree of skill. and craftsmanship which is not possessednor attained by many carpenters whoerhploy the traditional hammer and chisel methodand,- 'accordingly,a further object of this invention is to provide amortisingtool that is simple and easy to use, requires no high degree of skill and produces a quality result with a minimum effort in a minimum time. 1 l I Certain other rotary mortise cutting tools designed for use with a portable drill have heretofore. been made but they .include intricate structure for. the mounting ;.of .the drill or the guiding of the bit which increases the cost of the unit and adds-to the complexity of its use. I have endeavored to overcome these disadvantages by providing a simple tool for use with a ternplet that consists of a flat guide plate, preferably in the 'form of a disc, having an integral axial hub or guard on=one side and an integral axial stop on the. other, a router bit rotatably journalled through said hub and stop,.a collar longiturabbeted to provide an integral stop which, of course, is

closely adjacent the position of the hinge. In this regard, a further object of this invention is to provide a mortising tool as characterized which can be used efiiciently and effectively irrespective of whether the door stop is integrally formed on the jamb or later applied.

To attain these objects and such further objects as may appear herein, or be hereinafter pointed out, reference is made to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a preferred embodiment of this mortising tool shown applied to a door jamb,

FIG. 2 is a reduced perspective view showing this tool in operable position relative to a door jamb,

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side view, partly in section, of the device shown in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 4 is a front view thereof partly broken away to more fully illustrate its operation.

Referring to the drawings, a door jamb is designated generally by the numeral 10 and shows an integral door stop 12 for purposes of illustrating the application of this new mortising tool 14 and in this regard, it will be understood that the application and operation of tool 14 as hereinafter described is equally applicable to the edge of a door as well as jamb 10.

A templet 16 is in the form of a rectangular frame comprising the parallel longitudinal side rails 18 and 20 which are connected at respective opposite ends by the parallel end rails 22 and 24. Rails 18, 20, 22 and 24 are preferably approximately high for the purpose "of being high enough to clear the top of an integral stop 12 which is customarily about Such dimensions for the templet mayof course be varied but preferably the side and end rails should be slightly higher than stop 12 as will later appear. The respective flanges 26 and 28 project planar with the bottom of the respective end rails 22 and 24 and are provided with holes 30-30 by which the templet 16 can be temporarily anchored to jamb 10 by means of nails 32-32 or the like as best seen in FIG. 4. Each flange 26 and 28 is provided with a series of holes 3434 (FIG. 4) which are preferably threaded for the reception of a stop member 3636 and the respective multiple holes 34 on flanges 26 and 28 are complementary with each other in providing an adjustment means for positioning the templet 16 on jamb 10. Such stops 36 abut the edge of the jamb (or door) as seen in FIG. 4 and different combinations of the holes 34 will permit a larger or lesser portion of templet to overlie the jamb or door to accommodate hinges of different sizes. It will 'be understood, of course, that a slot may be used inplace of holes 34 or there may be any other means to permit the adjustment as indicated. In the placement of templet 16 as described, a portion of the area between the rails 18 and 20, indicated by the numeral 38 in FIG. 4, projects beyond the area of the jamb or door to be cut to allow for movement of the cutting assembly 40 which I will now describe.

' Assembly 40 includes a flat disc guide plate 42 which may have one or more apertures 44 that not only lessen the weight of plate 42 but which may serve to facilitate the movement of the plate as will become apparent. The axial portion of plate 42 is provided with a bearing means 46 for the shank 48 of a router bit 50 and such means 46 may be integrally formed as in a casting or may be a suitable bushing secured to plate 42 in any suitable manner so as to define a hub or guard 52 on the bottom side of plate 42 and a stop 54 on the top side as best seen in FIG. 3.

Shank 48 is inserted through bearing means 46 from the bottom side of plate 42 and an adjusting collar 56 is mounted to shank 48 above the stop 54. Collar 56 is provided with a set screw 58 by which it can be secured to shank 48 at any desired place whereby the abutment of such collar against the stop 54 will determine the depth of travel of bit 50 below plate 42.

In the operation of this tool, the templet 1-6 is aflixed to the jamb 10 (or door edge) as described and as best seen in FIGS. 1 and 2. Stops 36 will abut the edge of the jamb or door so that that portion of the templet 16 which overlies the jamb or door defines an area to be mortised which corresponds to the hinge that will be placed there. Nails 32 are used to temporarily render the templet immovable. Bit '50 is adjusted by collar 56 for the desired depth of cut and the top of shank 48 is secured to the chuck 60 of any conventional portable electric drill 62.

3 With, assembly 40 thus secured to drill 62, plate 42 is placed on the templet 16 so that bit 50 is within the confined area of the templet. With drill 62 operating and manually held in one hand, plate 42 can be engaged by the other hand in any convenient manner including the use of the edges of holes 44, if desired, and assembly 40 is movable freely in any direction within the templet with plate 42 maintained in sliding contact with the top of rails 18, 20, 22 and 24. In this regard, the diameter of plate 42 is such that at all times when it is operably engaged for mortising, it will be engaged with at least three of the four rails and with all four of the rails during some of the time. In cutting the marginal edge of the mortise cut, assembly 40 is moved so that hub -2 serves as a guard for bit 50 by sliding against the inner surface of rails 20, 22 and 24 and since the extreme diameter of bit 50 defines a circle slightly smaller and concentric with the diameter of hub 52 as seen in FIG. 4, the actual line of cut on the jamb or door will be slightly spaced inwardly from the inner surface of the templet rails whereby the edge of the mortise cut as seenin FIG. 4 is indicated by the numeral 64. Actually, line 64 is approximately from the templet rails but this may vary, of course, with the size of hub 52 and/or the size of the bit 50. In this regard, I have placed score lines 66 (FIG. 1) on the inside of rail 20 to designate the true line of cut and this is of benefit when an old mortise cut for example, is being re-cut since lines 66 can be easily placed in register with the edge of the old cut.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that once drill 62 has been started, the entire operation is extremely simple and actually requires no particular skill. Assembly 40 can be freely moved in any direction and the presence of knots or cross grain imposes no problems. Likewise, the presence of an integral door stop 12 already present does not interfere with the operation of this tool as the rails on templet 16 are preferably high enough to permit plate 42 to easily pass over and clear such a stop. Thus this tool not only provides a simple, economical and efiicient mortising device for the professional carpenter, but since most householders and amateur handymen usually possess an electric drill, it makes it possible for them to do a professional type job with a minimum of effort, expense and skill and accordingly, from all of the foregoing, it is submitted that a full understanding of construction and operation of this invention will be had and the advantages of the same will be appreciated.

It will be understood that the phraseology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not for limitation and that modifications and changes in the construction and arrangement of this invention can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the, spirit and purpose thereof. It is thus intended to cover by the claims, any modified forms of structure or mechanical equivalents which may be reasonably included within their scope. 5 I claim:

1. In a mortising tool for mortising hinge recesses in door edges and door jambs, a cutting assembly comprising:

a flat disc plate having a top and bottom side and designed for placement of said bottom side on a templet with said plate, adapted to be manually movable relative to said templet,

said plate being provided with an axial opening,

an annular guard integral with and depending from the axial portion of said bottom side of said plate so as to be in registration with said axial opening,

a bearing member integral with the axial portion of said top side of said plate and provided with a passageway in registration with said axial openings,

an elongated cylindrical shank having a cutting head on one end, a a

said shank being rotatably journalled through said guard, said axial opening and said bearing member so that said cutting head projects from said guard and said shank projects from said bearing member,

means on said shank engageable with said bearing member to selectively determine the extent of projection of said cutting head relative to said guard, and

said shank designed to be rotated by attachment to the chuck of a portable electric drill,

2. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the means on said shank engageable with said bearing includes: A

a collar slidably disposed on that portion of said shank projecting from said bearing member, p

a set screw in said collar engageable with said shank whereby said collar can be fixed to said shank at any selected point, and said collar abutting said bearing member which serves as a stop to limit the projection of said cutting'head from said guard. 3. A device as defined in claim 1 wherein the diameter of said cutting head is less than the diameter of said guard.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,772,833 8/1930 Hoffman et a1.

1,788,256 1/1931 Sherwin 33197 3,087,520 4/1963 Fielder.

3,150,452 9/1964 Meuwissen 33197 DONALD R. SCHRAN, Primary Examiner. 

